Armstrong in drug-testing debacle, again

By Daniel McMahon

The New York Times ran an article online today about Armstrong's new drug scandal.

It’s all over the news. Once again. Lance Armstrong finds himself at the center of a number of stories about whether he violated drug-testing rules, this time those set by the French national antidoping organization, the A.F.L.D.

Armstrong claims he was down in Nice, France, just back from a long training ride, when a stranger approached him to take a drug test. Apparently, Armstrong waited until this man was properly ID’d before submitting to any tests.

Whether or not he did break any rules will be answered in good time, but what’s newsworthy for many of us, probably, is that the French—broadly speaking—and the main cycling newspaper in France, L’Equipe, are picking up right where they left when when the seven-time winner of the Tour de France and most famous cancer survivor retired a few years ago.

So what’s going on? Are the French really the ones “after him”? Is Armstrong breaking any rules?

But are these not the same questions we were left asking back in the Texan’s heyday? And it was the case that those after Armstrong could not prove the rider doped.

It does seem like deja vu, all over again.